Birmingham Blues

Arlen Specter says he still hasn’t received a promised letter from Gonzales that was to answer questions about the AG’s testimony.  I wonder if he’ll take off points for the late work.

UPDATE:  MSNBC just reported that the White House is now saying the letter is coming from the Justice Department.  No wonder it’s not done yet. 
The White House is about four hours past the noon (ET) deadline set by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to provide a letter “clarifying” Alberto Gonzales’ testimony to Congress.  Hmmm.  Could Gonzo [...]

UPDATE: It’ll be a while longer.  Takes time to obfuscate properly. 
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) says he and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expect a letter from the White House around noon today that will address, um, inconsistencies in AG Alberto Gonzales’ testimony to Congress.  It’s hard to say which way this will go — Specter bluntly questioned [...]

14YOD gets her wisdom teeth out this afternoon.  I’m filling out forms and worrying right now; once she’s home and heavily medicated, I’ll see what’s happening in the world.

…but he’s probably looking at the wrong thing.  In the post below, I mentioned Bushco’s opposition to cargo screening.  Now John Aravosis at Americablog points out this story:
The United States and the European Union have agreed to expand a security program that shares personal data about millions of U.S.-bound airline passengers a year, potentially including [...]

The bill, approved 371-40 in the House and 85-8 in the Senate, includes many of the provisions recommended by the 9/11 Commission, and it should reverse some of the incredibly stupid allocation of resources we’ve seen over the past few years.  I guess that means it’ll be open season on petting zoos and flea markets.

The [...]

Tony Snow, continuing White House attempts to denigrate Congressional oversight:
On CNN’s The Situation Room, Snow said the White House “will respond in due course” to the Rove subpoena. But he added, “Let me point out that we have actually made Karl Rove available to that committee under conditions where he’s going to tell the truth.” [...]

ADDENDUM:  Steve M. notes that LaHood announced his upcoming retirement today.  So I guess he no longer has to care what Karl Rove says.  Lucky man. 
UPDATE:  Second link fixed.  Sorry ’bout that! 
While the White House is busy trying to dismiss Congressional investigations and claiming that all this, um, oversight is distracting from real legislative needs, Rep. Ray LaHood [...]

Four Senate Democrats have formally requested that Solicitor General Paul Clement appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether AG Alberto Gonzales perjured himself in testimony before the Senate.

“It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,” four members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter [...]

So reports MSNBC.  More later.